


Lost on journey

by sherbal



Category: The Grand Tour (TV) RPF, Top Gear (UK) RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Police, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-25
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-24 15:14:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8376934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sherbal/pseuds/sherbal
Summary: Basically, Hammond is the good cop, James is the bad cop, Jeremy, well, is a typical Jag man.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Many thank you to the lovely reeltoreal for betaing this fic.  
> What could I do without you.  
> She's amazing and has great knowledges about cars( which I don't)  
> There are few corrections in this fic, including the part Jeremy having to drive away from the killers.  
> Yes, the oil tank is protected by thick metals and there is a slim chance that it could be shot through by some common bullets. The films are worng.(well, I'm only trying to get away from this by blaming the movies.) However, the radiator can be shot through, which was kindly told by reeltoreal( who's a petrolhead and I trust her so much that even she tells me that the moon is only a fantasy, I'll believe it. Well, of course she won't say that. She's far far better than this.)  
> Anyway, please enjoy.

Part One  
Chapter One  
Jeremy Clarkson, aka Jezza - the infamous credit card fraudster, was stuck at the back of a police car, moaning about the discomfort of this Korean-made Kia.  
“Come on, even you can feel the roof is a bit low!”  
With one elbow resting on the car door, the short bloke at the front chose to ignore him completely.  
“You know, I can afford two first-class tickets back to London which wouldn’t require sitting in a small box suffering from this terrible noise”, said the much taller man,” God, I miss my Jags, they are so sweeeeeet. You seem to be a Peugeot man, by the way. No, I think maybe a Chevy type? Or you’re a biker? This is tricky.”  
“Shut up or I’ll gag you.”

“Sunshine, although I’d love to have some fun you really aren’t my type. How can I put this...”  
“I swear to God, if you don’t shut up, I will knock you over!” The police officer glared at him in the back mirror.  
“Alright! Alright! I’ll behave!”  
Seconds later, “Small bloke, big temper.”  
The angry little man immediately pulled over into the emergency lane.  
“I warned you, you fucking bigmouthed, arrogant, bloody asshole.”  
Trying to get out of the car to reach Jeremy’s door, Sergeant Richard Hammond found that he had stopped too close to the barriers and could barely open the door.  
Undeterred, he turned around in the driver’s seat, leaning across the armrest to hit the suspect whom he was escorting home to London.  
How can a swindler be so obnoxious? People always like them before finding out that they are being robbed, albeit without starring down the barrel of some cheap pistol.  
The cuffed man was dodging the flying fist while kicking back as some sort of self-defence.  
At that time, Jeremy did wonder about how many years will add to his sentence by kicking a police officer on the crotch.  
Even with this childish fight, this escort should be a normal and mundane journey without much excitement or surprise… But not today.  
A car suddenly crashed to the back of the police car. Hammond crashed backward slamming his head into the windscreen.  
Bullets exploded through the rear window shattering it into millions of pieces that rained down on the backseat. Lowering his body as much as possible, the taller man noticed that the short bloke was lying still on the passenger seat.  
Jeremy was always tough when fighting his way out of hopeless situations; as a con-man he came across this life and death scene once in a while. Awkwardly squeezing himself between the front seats, he huddled up in the driver’s seat, quickly shifted into gear and let fly with all the power the little car could give him, hoping that the tyres hadn’t been shot through.  
Luckily the gunmen from the back weren’t smart enough or talented enough to aim for the tyres. He reversed into his attacker’s SUV again before slamming it into first as quickly as he could. The little Kia shivered and screamed like in hell. The engine roared like a dying tiger that hadn’t fed in weeks, weak and angry, pushed to it’s limits.  
Jeremy thought he’d die while waking up at three in the morning with the cold feeling of a gun pressed to his temple by the husband of the woman lying next to him. Or maybe getting caught with loaded dice in an underground casino. But he never expected to be shot dead in a terrible little Kia while pushing 80 down the highway. Casting a glance at the smaller man who passed out under the glove box, Jeremy was surprised at how small he was to fit in that narrow space. He thought it was literally the worst thing to die alongside a midget with a bullet hole in his head, while treading the accelerator to reach 90.  
He now couldn’t spare a thought about who wanted him dead and why. Probably some poor old bastards who he’d conned of a small fortune years ago and couldn’t get over it, wanting a proper revenge.  
Although never a hero, he still didn’t like that he might drag the man to his death at his side.

@@@@@@@@

 

Chapter Two  
Wearing the handcuffs made the getaway driving thing worse, he had to move both his hands from the steering wheel to change gears from time to time. But the good thing is, they did survive this unexpected trouble.  
For some odd reason, the men trying to kill them failed to start their car and catch up with them which left Jeremy in an ecstasy of appreciating the toughness of this little Kia. After all, there must be a good reason for using a Korean car as the police car instead of a good Jaguar or Bentley or whatever made Britain what it is today.  
The small fella hadn’t awakened from his coma. Jeremy was worrying that he might be dead and soon the car will stink of the rotten body. After checking from the wing mirror that the car fully-loaded with gunmen were nowhere to be seen, Jeremy turned on the GPS to see where they were at present. Unfortunately, soft little Korean things didn’t work with two or three bullet holes in it. “You bloody useless gadget! No wonder you lost the north! Straighten up a bit!”  
The other part of the car was not working very well either. The steam streaming out from the bonnet told him that he could only drive a couple of miles. It seemed the radiator was shot through and, based on the smell, the petrol line was probably cracked somewhere as well. He counted himself as damn lucky that they hadn’t blown up.  
He exited the highway and found themselves in Manchester, which didn’t recall many loving memories. Stopping at a back lot of a school, emptied of students and staff hours ago, Jeremy really needed to slow down and think for a while. He examined the grumpy cop; this lucky man didn’t appear to have any bleeding wound, not that he could find anyway, which made the situation bit tricky.  
He could just flee from the car, buy a plane ticket and fly to Italy or to be safer, maybe a small island in the Pacific where the proud police can’t reach him.  
But he was pretty tired of running, this little rattle already made his heart beat faster than running a marathon while carrying two bags of gravel. He couldn’t manage the great escape plan. He was designed to drive in a nice car around the French Riviera crowded with some not so nice girls in bikinis rather than racing a car on the highway while bullets flew from behind.  
Frankly speaking, he wasn’t that curious of who was hunting him. All those years of conning made more rivals than he could imagine. It was a hard decision, which in time would definitely be called a turning point.  
If he drove the car to the police station and hand back the car and the officer, maybe he’d get something of a reduced sentence. But if he fled, he’d get caught in the foreseeable future of two or three days at best and live in prison for rather a long while. He could feel his palms sweating on the steering wheel, but he needed to be quick about this decision.  
The small bloke twitched a little, banging his head on the glovebox again, and lay still.  
A silver suitcase was revealed, the lock clearly damaged, presumably in a similar manner to the officer partially obscuring it from view.  
He got very curious now.  
...............  
“Where am I? What’s going on?” Hammond rubbed the back of his head and moaned.  
He had absolutely no idea what had happened in the last hour.  
“Oh, did you hit me with a stick or something? You bloody fucking...”  
“Hey! Officer! What horrible things to say to a man who saved your ungrateful little life! Without me, you surely will be lying on the highway with your guts eaten by some vultures, dead!”  
“What? Where am I?”  
“ You must have smashed your pretty little head to the front window when they bumped to us at the back. Lucky for you, for not having to dodge bullets while driving this Korean made little shit down the highway.”  
“Bullets?” The smaller man slowly climbed up by pushing up the passenger seat and soon noticed the bullet holes in the side of the car and the front window.  
“Who was shooting at us? ”  
“I have absolutely no idea.”  
Hammond was in a great shock that someone who dared to shoot a police car in broad daylight could even exist in the world.  
“So you climbed to the front and drove the car to wherever this is?”  
“Yes! And I do think you own me a big thank you, considering what sort of language you’ve used to pay back my kind favor.”  
“I need to report this.”  
Sergeant Hammond drew his phone from the pocket and try to dial the number, at that time, a call was coming in.  
“Hello, Richard Hammond speaking.”  
“Hi, Officer Hammond, I’m truly sorry for what’s just happened. You see, my men meant no harm, well, a little bit, perhaps.”  
The man at the phone sounded quite unpleasant.  
“Who am I speaking to?" Hammond got really nervous at this smooth but annoying voice on the other side.  
"I believe my name is irrelevant in our little nice chat, but if you insist, you can call me May.”  
“Why did you shoot at me?” He was holding breath now.

“You’ve got something I’m greatly interested in, a suitcase perhaps?”  
Jeremy heard this and felt quite a relief.  
It was none of his business now. After all he was such a lovely man.  
“How did you know?" Hammond glared at a very relaxed Jeremy who was wearing a pathetically smug smile on his stupid face.  
"The same way I know where your girlfriend Mindy works and when she goes home tonight.” Hammond now was filled with fear.

“Please don’t hurt her.”  
“It’s a bit late to be saying that; maybe you’d like to find out yourself?”  
On the other side of the phone, he could hear some muffled noise in the background.  
“Rich! Help me! Help!”  
It was Mindy.  
A icy trickle spread down his spine freezing him in his seat, and quickly enough, he felt rage beginning to consume him from deep inside.  
“I swear, if you hurt her, I’ll find you and I’ll crush you, you fucking...”  
“Oh dear, that’s not pleasant to hear. Listen, what I want is simply that suitcase, bring it and meet me at the local church tomorrow at eight. I’ll text you the address.  
“If that goes well, you’ll have your girl back. So behave yourself. Goodbye officer, It’s been a pleasure talking to you." The man called May hung up.  
"So you’ve got a girlfriend." Jeremy clearly heard the conversation.  
"Shut up! Shut the fuck up!” Jeremy did as he was told this time leaving Hammond to his distress.  
Hammond abandoned the thought of calling the police, because he knew the unreliability of the police as a police officer. He had seen his colleagues not pause in their afternoon tea even when something went terribly wrong out there.  
What’s in that case? He needed to find out.  
But sadly, the suitcase was damaged and leaving nothing in it at present.  
“Did you notice something in that suitcase going anywhere when you drove us here?”  
“No. I was busy getting this travesty to reach 90 back there. But I did see something fly out of the car. Maybe something black or brown? I can’t remember.”  
Hammond thought about this for a while and figured out that black or brown thing his wallet.  
“God damn it! ”  
Losing his wallet put more sense of tragedy to the current situation.  
It was getting darker in the car as the sun drifted towards the horizon.  
Sitting on an empty suitcase and beside the noisiest man… in the world, Hammond felt that this was definitely a cosmic punishment for his having not gone to the church for a long time. It did cheer him up a bit that the talkative man had shut his big mouth for now and was snoring lightly, which reminded him of thinking about what to do now.  
He got out the car to examine the damage done under the bonnet and found it in rather rough shape. This car could only get back on the road with lots of repairs.  
It was completely dark now, the valley surrounding them getting creepier as a cool mist rolled in. He woke the taller man and watched him awkwardly get out of the car.  
This man was really tall, he barely noticed this while sitting in the car, but when both stood on the solid ground the conman was a head taller than him.  
“Do you happen to have some cash or credit cards? We might need to stay in a hotel for the night.”  
“As a suspect escorted by you, I couldn’t even stuff ten pounds in my ass, could I?”  
Hammond successfully snatched change from every corner of the car.

“So what hotel could that possibly get us?” said the tall man with disgust.  
"How about you being a street girl out there and earn a couple quid for the Hilton! Oh I’m sorry. Even if you leaned on a lamppost all night, no one would pay for that shit!”  
“I bet I could do better than a midget! At least I don’t need to stand on a box to blow somebody!” Jeremy was surprised at the sudden viciousness of this little man. It must be difficult for someone to be that sarcastic when his girlfriend had been abducted.  
They made a way out of the valley to find a place to stay for the night. Hammond had not even bothered to lock the car.  
“You don’t need to do this, I’m not intending to flee!" said Jeremy when Hammond was cuffing his right hand to his own left one.  
"Believe me I’d rather be cuffed to a hound with rabies than to you. I don’t trust you, that’s all. I already blew up one of my missions. I don’t want to ruin the other one.”  
“What’s your mission beside escorting me?”  
“Getting that suitcase to my boss.”  
They were now walking down the valley with hands cuffed together and a broken empty suitcase in hand. There weren’t many people on the street. The cold metal of the handcuffs crushed into his wrist sending a cold shiver down his spine. Some boys from the other side of the road were coming near, wearing cruel and aggressive expressions.  
“How about you fags giving us some ciggy money?”  
Obviously, being cuffed in a same pair of handcuffs made them look like holding hands.  
“This is Sergeant Richard Hammond you’re speaking to.”  
“What sergeant? The ones in the fags’ club with plastic handcuffs?" the gang laughed in an annoying way. The idiots were really pissing Hammond off. He didn’t have the time or patience for their stupid bullshit.  
He threw the suitcase in his right hand at the leader, punching him a little above the jaw.  
The gang was stirred when their leader roared with anger as blood streamed from his mouth.  
Hammond still was still and moved to fight back but was dragged by the taller man into a run in the opposite direction. "Stop! You bloody coward!” He turned to Jeremy as he pulled them around a corner, ”Let me punch their little asses back to their mothers’ wombs! Those fucking ...”  
A moment later, he realized that being dragged away was a much better choice than fighting the gang with one hand cuffed to another man.  
He tried to keep pace but the tall bloke ran like he was in hell, the handcuffs were cut deeper into his skin likely causing some bruising.  
“You fighty little midget! Now, take my hand quickly!” Offered the taller man without looking back.  
He shyly decided to grab the other man’s wrist and felt that the “kind” man may have rolled his eyes a bit.  
He was basically holding on to the cuffs on the other man’s waist, which irritated Jeremy greatly. So he took the smaller man’s hand in his own and ran into a narrow street.  
The gangsters were quite close behind them, throwing cans and garbage at them occasionally, while shouting abuse.  
By pushing down some rubbish bins and boxes piled up by the wall, they were just lucky enough to get away with it. The gang of boys were nowhere to be seen, when they found themselves at the door of a small family inn.

@@@@@@@@

 

Chapter Three

“Guess we are in a bit of luck huh.” Jeremy said with panting and legs shaking.  
“I hope maybe twenty pounds will be enough. And they need to forget to check our IDs at check in.” The little guy was quite pessimistic.  
“Don’t be stupid. Look at this pathetic little hotel! They will beg us to stay so they can eat a proper supper this evening instead of murdering some pedestrians.”  
“Just act normally, forget the fact that we just ran away from some crazy shit shooting at us and some local yobs trying to smack our heads with bats.”  
Hammond glared at him impatiently, “Alright, I don’t need the world’s most reckless man telling me to act normal. My girlfriend is in the hands of some shit called May and I lost whatever was in this case he wants. So I’m pretty much doomed and I can’t be more normal.”  
“At least that May guy was incredibly polite; didn’t you notice that? Erm, on the other hand, you do know that Hannibal Lester type, being polite and all that, but next second he’ll carve your heart out. Sorry for your loss, mate.”  
“Will you please shut up!" Richard didn’t think he could handle this situation well. Things were getting more and more ridiculous now.  
But he set aside the anger and worry, and rang the doorbell. He was not holding Clarkson’s hand now, but the taller man’s bigger hand still touched him now and then. They could hear the footsteps coming to the front door from inside and just before the owner opened the door, Jeremy quickly took his hand and stuffed their hands to his coat pocket without letting it go.  
Hammond tried to pull away immediately, and soon realized that showing the handcuffs around their wrists was not a very good idea. Why didn’t he think of that earlier and unlock the handcuffs?  
This embarrassing movement leaving him a hope that the owner of the family hotel isn’t homophobic.  
While Hammond was silently chastising himself, Jeremy took over the talking.  
"Hi, our car was broken down, and our wallets were both stolen. I’m wondering if you are so kind to let us have one of your rooms, please.”  
The owner is a big muscle guy with messy beard who seemed moore likely to start yelling at a seemingly gay couple than let them into his inn. Maybe he will kick them out and warn every family hotel not to let them in. The big guy watched them carefully, and scanned them from head to toe.  
Surprisingly, the man smiled and open the door.  
“Oh my god! That must be horrible!" The man’s voice was high-pitched with a definite effeminate quality and quite contradictory to his size.” Come on, do you guys want a cup of tea?“  
With his hand in Jeremy’s pocket, Hammond was dragged through the door embarrassedly. But the taller man seemed to take it all in stride.  
The interior of the house was, well, colorful. Above the fireplace, there were family photos.  
No need to take a wild guess,there were always the same two men in the photo. And if they use their thumb to guess, the other guy must be the big guy’s husband or boyfriend.  
"My husband and I once had our car broken down onto the way to the countryside, and if you ask me, I’d rather die than standing in three inches of cow dung and trying to phone the service.” The happily married guy lead them to the couch.  
“I bet they sent a man down there about three or four hours later! And you had to sit in the car listening to boring the radio waiting for like a century.” Jeremy said and brought Hammond with him to sit on the love seats.  
Richard thanked the mercy of god and did his best to look very blissfully in love with the most annoying man in the world.  
“You guys look so cute together, you know, the height difference thing. I’m very curious how you came together.”  
It seemed that they must present the owner a convincing and touching story about their love affair before they could get a room.  
The owner looked at Richard so this was his turn to do the talking.  
“Well, em, we met at...Paris," which was patheticly made-up as he’d never been to Paris. "And Clark...Jeremy was there on a business trip, I was on a holiday alone to...em...forget my ex.”  
He could feel cold sweat run down the back of his neck.  
“We met in a local pub and he pulled me from a fight and bought me a drink. Then things just happened.”  
“So you’ve been together for...how long?”  
“Two years”  
“Four years”  
They said simultaneously. The owner raised his eyebrow.  
“We were together since then for about two years and broke up because... his ex came back and he still couldn’t forget him. So I just let go. "Jeremy was smart enough to cover this up. "I was always thinking about him after that, and...well...we met in Paris once again one year ago. He was dumped by his ex, again, and was in deep distress. So we were back together again. Till now, it’s about another two years.”  
The taller man said emotionally. Hammond resisted the urge to throw eye daggers at him. How could he portray him as some lovesick idiot and make himself look like some sort of self-sacrificing hero accepting his ungrateful lover again without hate or contempt.  
The owner of the hotel wiped a happy tear from the corner of his eye with a well masked sniffle.  
“That is absolutely beautiful, Paris! It’s like a novel! By the way, where did you guys meet again? By the river or on a bridge, I bet it was something romantic like the movies.”  
This was a tricky question.  
“No we met at a bank queuing.”  
This most unromantic scene clearly ended the owner’s imagination.  
“We are very tired now, can you give us a room for one night? We only have about twenty pounds but we’ll send you the rest after we went home.”  
The owner led them upstairs and gave them a lovely room with a double bed.  
“Good night then, oh, and you’ll find the things you need in the first drawer of the bedside table.”

@@@@@@@@

Chapter Four  
With the door closed, Hammond took his hand out of Jeremy ’s pocket and unlocked the cuff to free his hand.  
“I do believe we did a good teamwork out there. Paris and music and ex, what a wonderful story… for a sixteen-year-old girl,” Jeremy’s voice dripped with sarcasm.  
“Shut up, I had to make a romantic story to convince him.”  
“You could always say we met in a gay pub and shagged, I’m pretty sure that’s typical for most em gay men.”  
“Alright, alright, next time someone asks me why I was holding hands with a great oaf, I’ll say that.” He then cuffed Jeremy to the bedpost.  
“This is how you treat your loyal lover and the man who just saved your ungrateful ass twice? ” Jeremy protested with anger.  
“Thank you so much for not letting us get killed. I still don’t trust you, by the way.”  
“I’m not going to flee. If I was planning on that, I’d just knock you over in the back valley and saw your arm off to break free. Anyway, I mean no harm. I just want us to get this over with and get in prison and get on with however many years of a sentence I deserve. That’s it. Don’t think that every suspect wants to run away. It’s just the silly movies.”  
Hammond looked at the bruises on his wrist probably caused by Clarkson tugging the cuffs while running away from the gang. And he decided that it was actually ok to trust someone for a little while.  
He unlock the handcuffs and set the bull free. The 6’5” man looked down at him and this really made his nerves cracking.  
“Thank you very much for that.”  
Sat on one of the armchairs by the wall, he now could properly worry about Mindy, trapped with some lunatic who wanted god-know-what from a now empty suitcase.  
He examined the suitcase thoroughly but to all appearances this indeed was just a very normal suitcase.  
What could possibly have been inside it?  
While he was busy thinking, the taller man who was lying on the top of bed now said, “who gave you that?”  
“The chief who handed you to my custody.” Hammond was actually surprised at how soon he started to properly talk to the suspect.  
“So you decide to handle this all by yourself? No report? No aids? What if there were some nuclear plan papers in that suitcase? You will lose your job.”  
“Mindy is in their hands, I can’t risk losing her. I don’t care about my fucking job. It’s stupid. After all, whatever was in that suitcase is gone. I have nothing to lose. Maybe there are already police looking for us. The police car has GPS.”  
“What are you gonna do tomorrow? ‘Sorry mate, I lost it. Here’s your empty suitcase, lovely color, by the way.’”  
“I don’t know. Either way, I’ll lose Mindy.”  
The smaller man buried his face in hands and sighed.

@@@@@@@@

Chapter Five  
Jeremy, however, was feeling rather guilty.  
The content of that suitcase was not lost, the papers were safely in his breast pocket, resting next to his heart.  
The reason why he took them was quite simple. These papers were evidence of the corruption of a minister who was, at his last check, very popular at the moment.  
These files could be the end of the minister’s political career and if he took a wild guess, the reason why the files were chosen to be delivered by a minor police officer on an escort mission rather than a more lavish guard was that these files were not meant to be exposed to the public. The Chief of Police must have made some sort of political arrangement with said minister. So the files were to be quietly delivered to the minister to preserve their anonymity and therefore their safety.  
Frankly speaking, he knew the files were important so he hid them. And he didn’t want to run away because when the small police woke up, he’d be wanted all over Britain. Every lamppost would have his face on it. He just wanted to stay for more information.  
After knowing more of the sergeant and hearing the conversation in the phone, he believed those files were important enough to protect himself. If he could blackmail the minister, or even threaten to expose the police chief’s corruption as a backup plan, then he’d walk out of the police station free of charges. Happy endings for everyone. Well, maybe not to the little man  
who sat there in misery… or his pretty girlfriend.  
He felt a little bad about this, but still unwilling to give up his brilliant plan and again get into a mess which may get him killed.  
He’s not a murderer, if he was, he would have strangled the smaller man when he was unconscious and ruin away. But he couldn’t have done that. On one hand, he was not that cruel. On the other hand, he found the smaller man very interesting and doesn’t think he deserve to be treated that way.  
The little bloke looked even smaller when curled up in that armchair. His hair sticking out in every direction made him look like a fluffy hamster. But a really sorrowful one whose girlfriend was abducted and he could do nothing about it.  
“Hammond?”  
“Yes.”  
He tried to cheer him up and was fully aware that he was the source of his sorrow.  
“I like you and to repay your kind favor of trusting me, I have a plan.”  
The hamster raised his head up with hope in his big eyes.  
“I have some friends who might be a bit of help. Maybe trace back the phone number or something like that. If you like, I can call them.”  
“That’s very kind of you." Hammond handed him his phone. Jeremy then dialed a couple of numbers, had some conversations with his interesting friends, and handed back the phone.  
"Thanks mate. I really appreciate that.” Hammond said to him with gratitude. Jeremy’s guilt mounted.


	2. Second part

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a happy ending.

Chapter Six

They waited in silence for the call back.  
"So, um, you messed around with credit cards then." This is genuinely a bad start to a conversation. "How does that work?" Richard cringed inwardly.

The taller man on the bed replied with proudness and showed him several methods about how to trick old ladies and stupid idiots.  
"That is amazing." Hammond said wholeheartedly.  
"No one’s ever said that."  
"Your wife or perhaps girlfriend never said that?"  
"No, I haven't been in a long steady relationship for a really long time. Waking up to the same person bores me. So you've got a girlfriend. What's her name?"  
"Mindy and we've been together for one and a half year. She is a lovely girl at my police station doing some paper working."  
"Is she taller than you?" Jeremy just couldn't be nice for a very long time.  
Hammond frowned at him, "No, frankly speaking, I'm at average height, it's just that you are a bit tall."

Then they stayed in silence for a very long time. Jeremy drifted off and then woke up to find that the smaller guy was asleep in the armchair, curled into a little ball. It was cold in the room; the gay lad surely couldn't afford to pay for a heater. He wanted to drag the blanket to drape over the little guy, but finding out that there was only one thick blanket on the bed. So he woke him up and told him to sleep in the bed. He was having a rough enough night because of Jeremy’s actions.

"Did they call back?"

"No, just go sleep in the bed. It's freezing cold here."

"What about you?"  
"I'll be fine."  
Hammond moved to where Jeremy was sleeping before and got him comfortable under the covers. "You are a good man no matter how much money you cheat old ladies out of."

He was a bit astounded at what was said by the younger man. No one had said that before. This sentence almost made his heart flutter inside his chest.  
Watching Hammond close his eyes, he sat on the armchair and felt like the files in his breast pocket were burning him. He had ruined a man who had just shown appreciation and admiration twice in one night to him. To the real him, not the smiley, con who was used to admiration. The insecure lonely criminal who was used to anger and condemnation. Jeremy did this to him and was now worshipped like a hero by the poor man.  
He conned and he did feel guilty sometimes when he cheated the pension money from pensioners. But that usually went away quickly after sex or drinks or both.  
It was dead cold in this armchair and he wondered how the little bloke managed to rest in it.  
He warmed his hands by rubbing them on his face which didn't help much and his face hurt. Then the man under the covers said, "Do you want to come here?"  
This was a generous offer because although it was a double bed, it was ridiculously small. Damn these gay dudes and their thrifty little hotel. He walked to the bed and Hammond shifted to make room for him. Pulling off his coat, he draped it over the blanket and over themselves, Jeremy lay down and turned off the bed lamp.  
The little man lay still and Jeremy was even more guilty deep inside. After a while he turned over and saw the smaller man was hidden under the covers. Vaguely worried that he may suffocate himself, Jeremy lower the blanket to expose his head to the cool air. Hammond stirred a little due to the cold and while still asleep instinctually moved to hug him for warmth. He was in completely shock, not knowing whether to shrug away. Jeremy was not newb to man-touching. But the sex thing went pretty quickly and he didn't need to be hugged by some bloke afterwards. Looking down at the sleeping man in the dark, he found the little guy really cute at that moment. Like cuddling up to a fluffy dog. So he decided to give it a go, this whole cuddling thing. He lay back and let himself indulge in the warmth.

When he awoke from his doze again there was already some dim light outside the curtains. He found himself hugging the smaller man back and Hammond's hair was tickling his neck.  
The police officer buried his face in Jeremy's chest and curled into a small ball. This was very uplifting. He felt warm inside and outside. It was not like he was trying to take liberties with the younger man. He hadn't woken up in someone's embrace for a really long time. The sleepiness soon went away and Jeremy was getting hotter under the cover so he tried to detach himself from Hammond without waking him up.  
Obviously, he was not good at it. Hammond woke up with a small noise. He tugged at Jeremy's shirt for a moment and then immediately noticed that he was holding onto the taller man. And quickly let go. Mumbling apologizes, they both lay on the far edges of the bed, keeping their distance.

Jeremy had two wives and countless mistresses. He was used to waking up with some women unable to remember their names immediately. Sage or Charlotte or whatever. He really is a man of loyalty, though, which did sound quite ironic. He fancies these ladies. He likes the perfume lingering on their hair or smooth skin. He likes their soft touch and delicate hands resting on his body. He likes women who are small and fragile and can whisper tender words into his ears.  
But deep down inside, he finds he doesn’t fancy them that much. More that he fancies the idea of them. He doesn't want to sacrifice his life for them. He can't read poetry to them under the dim moonlight. He especially hates it when they ask for those three words from him. He just didn't care that much.  
He wants to love properly but sadly in the years of wandering in the flower garden, he has lost the ability to love someone. Like Tantalus, he craves the fruit of love but he can never reach it. He longs for the water of sweet affection but it recedes when he bows his proud head toward it. He is a man loyal to his feelings. But he can't find the master of his love. It's pathetic and he knows it.  
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Chapter Seven

When he was absorbed in his tangled thoughts, Hammond murmured something, so quite in the room that he was afraid that it was only his imagination.  
"Are you awake?"  
"Yes." Clarkson answered in a low voice.  
"Did your friends call back?"

"Sorry, not yet."  
After a long while, Hammond sighed. "Thank you for doing this for me."  
Jeremy felt the guilt was eating him from inside. He liked this short policeman. A lot, if he were to be frank. But his freedom? Maybe he’d send the short bloke a fruit basket after he gets away from all this.

"Jeremy?" Richard used his first name for the first time. Jeremy likes the sound of it  
.  
"If I’m not back by noon," he said quietly, "I want you to give yourself up to the nearest station. Just say whatever you need to say. All of this is actually none of your business. I'm sorry to drag you into it." Hammond lay still like a dead fish, only his mouth moving.

"What about you? They'll definitely kill you and your girl when they find out you don't have the thing they need."

"There's nothing I can do. If I call the police, she dies. If I don't, we'll both die. At least she doesn't die alone."

Jeremy Clarkson is not a murder. So he gave up. There was a sob from the other side of the bed.  
The short bloke was crying under the covers, doing his best to not to show it to his escorted suspect. Jeremy sat up, reaching to move the covers from the small policeman.  
"Hammond?"  
The younger man couldn't answer back with his fist in his mouth. Jeremy could see tears all over his face with pain and sadness. He didn't know what to do. The smaller man might punch him after he heard what he had to say. So he just sat there beside him.  
"I need to tell you something." He said goodbye to his freedom," I took the files from the suitcase. I'm sorry."  
"You what?" Hammond almost sat up immediately, looking at him for more information.  
"The files are evidence of corruption of a minister. I took it to blackmail him so I can get out of going to prison. They are in my coat's breast pocket now. I'm sorry I lied to you and put you and your girlfriend's lives at danger."

He did punch him, right on the nose.  
"You pathetic fuck. Fuck you! How can you be so selfish? You..."  
The words died down. He grabbed the files from the coat's breast pocket and quickly stood up.

"Just leave. I give you your freedom. You saved me twice. I think I owe you nothing now."  
Jeremy wanted to say something but he literally had nothing to say. Just as he put on his long coat Hammond’s phone beeped, showing a text. It was about seven o'clock now. And the text was from May, giving him the address of the church. Hammond opened the door and left without saying anything.  
So that's it. He gained his temporary freedom but lost someone he genuinely liked. He sat back on the bed, not knowing how to spend his free time. Then finally he walked down the stairs and found the owner and his husband in the living room. They looked like any happily married couple. He asked, "Can I use your phone to make a call?"  
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Chapter Eight

Hammond walked to the church in the cold morning. The sun warmed his skin in spite of the morning chill, but he still felt cold and hungry. He hadn't eaten anything since yesterday' s lunch.  
His legs hurt with every step he took. All he wanted was to end this quickly. Now that he had the files he had a chance of surviving. To be honest with himself he didn't care about the corruption of the minister. Politics and economics are two things he really doesn't understand.

He suddenly thought about the tall man in long coat. That con-man, the swindler. Oddly enough, the man gave him a sense of security when he was around. Maybe because of the height or maybe the so-called swindler's charms. He woke up this morning with an illusion of being home with Mindy. He held her in his arms and touched her soft hair. And then when he truly woke up he found himself hugging the taller man. It was painfully embarrassing for him to be tangled in another man's limbs at six in the morning. But if he was that honest, he could admit to himself that he actually secretly enjoyed it.  
Then he thought about Mindy, being abducted by the most terrifying and polite man. Although it never occurred to him that he would marry her and have a couple children, he did love her. She is a sweet girl with lovely smile. Hammond likes smiling girls. Pushing open the door of the abandoned church he found that there was actually nobody in it.  
So he sat down on one of the benches and silently prayed for the safety of Mindy and the peace of his restless heart.

"What are you praying for?" A mild voice from his behind asked. He turned around to find a man with a haircut from 1970s which made him looked like a spaniel.

"Hi, Hammond. I'm May." The seemingly harmless man offered his hand and dropped it when Hammond made no move at all.  
"Where is Mindy?"  
"Where is the suitcase?"  
He showed it to him and demanded for her release.  
"Have you opened it?"  
"Yes, but I have no interest at all in its contents. You have your suitcase; I want my girlfriend back."

"That's tricky. Actually I only promised her not to kill you." The mild-looking man showed a sad face. "At lease release her, she doesn't know anything."

"She does."  
"What do you mean she does?" Suddenly everything went to the extreme of wrong. Mindy walked through the church door and stopped at a distance from them.

"Mindy?"  
"She's not Mindy, to be honest."  
The girl said nothing, looking at him with her crystal blue eyes.  
"Did they hurt you? What have they done to you?" Hammond felt the world was turning upside down. He felt weak and his legs were buckling.  
"Rich, I'm alright."  
"Run! You know nothing! Go to a police!"  
"Richard, I'm not leaving without the suitcase." She said, not entirely coolly but emotionlessly. Like she was talking about the weather.  
"Richard, she’s worked for me for quite some time. Before you two met, even. I thought you should at least die knowing. Now give me the suitcase."

He turned to properly look at her, the girl of his dreams, the true love of his life. She smiled bitterly, knowing she was going to say goodbye.

"Give him the suitcase, darling."  
He did as he was told. There was no point fighting back. This would end quickly and easily. At least he no longer needed to feel all of this again. He closed his eyes, waiting for the bullet. He could hear the sound of the safety being flipped off. Then the gun fired. The darkness would take him and soon he would die peacefully.  
But, there was nothing. He should feel pain or something. So he opened his eyes and saw a white figure running toward him with a gun in his hand. And May was lying on the floor, soaked in his own blood. Was he dreaming of angels? He didn't know.  
The last thing he heard was a sharp police siren sound coming closer and perhaps a man calling his name. Then finally came the darkness.

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Chapter Nine

People always ask Hammond if he has whitened his teeth or dyed his hair or why did he quit the police. However, these questions are pretty much easier to answer than telling them why he chooses to live the rest of his life with someone freshly released from prison and almost a foot taller than him.  
"Where did you met?" They always want to know that. People are expecting a romantic encounter in Paris or Rome or wherever with a river and some roses. They want to hear stories about kissing under the pale moonlight or holding hands in a narrow alley or something with umbrellas.

And they always want to hear this from the taller bloke, who can tell about twelve versions of their encounter, leaving the audience with awe and watering eyes.  
His mother enjoys the version where they crashed into each other in a downpour and forgot to exchange phone numbers but met each other in a bookstore one day. His friends, however, most of them enjoy the version of them coming across one another in Italy in shining Bentleys, each with companion of a gorgeous lady, and forgot about the ladies completely when they decided to go for a drive.

But if people do bother to ask Hammond himself of how they met? He only has one answer for them.

"We met in a gay bar and shagged."  
Then the taller one will smile and say it's one hundred percent true.  
"Yes, it was a love at first sight. And we ended up in bed the day we met."  
END


End file.
